


Mutual Declarations

by antigrav_vector



Series: CapIM bingo fills - 2016 [16]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Cap_Ironman Bingo, Cuddling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, looooots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 10:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7265242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something's wrong, Steve's sure of it. Something's very wrong. Until it isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mutual Declarations

**Author's Note:**

> And thus we come to the final installment in my (rather longer than planned) Stony bingo MCU/616 miniseries. Hope y'all have enjoyed the ride as much as I have.
> 
> This fills a picture prompt square: 
> 
> Unbeta'ed. Please forgive any typos.

It was dark and cold and snowy. Steve looked around, feeling oddly exposed. He wasn't sure anymore why he and Tony were here in the arctic. They were on a mission to do... something. Steve knew that much. But what was that mission again?

He couldn't remember, no matter how he wracked his brain.

Something was wrong. He could feel it in his bones.

The feeling of foreboding went beyond the savage chill that felt like it was numbing him from the inside out, sending tendrils of ice outward from his gut to the tips of his fingers. That in and of itself was subtly wrong. It was almost May, after all. Nearly summer in New York. And yet the wind here cut through his uniform like a set of icy knives. It was as though he was wearing nothing at all.

Wait. He was here with Tony. So where _was_ Tony?

The feeling of utter wrongness intensified. Tony always had his back on missions, and usually didn't go far. Steve knew that with a certainty that transcended logic. There was no way Tony could fly in this kind of weather, though. Not for long, as long as they moved at a walking pace. The winds would quickly force him down to the ground again, if he wanted to stick close to Steve.

Scanning the area around him and coming up with nothing but empty hectares of ice and snow, Steve frowned.

"Iron Man?"

There was no answer over the comms, and that was worrying. Where was Tony? Something had to have gone wrong, and badly, if Tony had somehow vanished without so much as a whimper over the comms. Tony usually complained long and loudly when he was prevented from sticking to Steve like a burr at times like this -- he knew just how much Steve loathed being cold.

"Iron Man?" Steve tried again. "Tony, where are you?"

"Steve?" Tony's voice was distant, half-carried away by the wind.

Steve's head whipped around and he ran toward the sound, not caring how much noise he made or how clear his tracks were. Tony was in trouble. "Tony! Answer me!"

"Steve!"

He crested a small rise, and there was Tony, doubled over, on his knees in the thin layer of snow. Tony looked up, shivering, in his undersuit, and met his eyes, blankly. Steve would have given him a blistering scolding, but his eyes caught on something utterly horrifying. "Tony! Oh my God!"

Tony's suit-- Steve's thoughts tangled up in one another in sheer disbelieving terror for his lover. The _goddamn arc reactor was missing from Tony's chest_. Suddenly feeling cold and clammy in his fear, Steve all but flung himself to his knees next to Tony, ignoring the sting as his knees scraped against the icy ground and probably bled all over the inside of his uniform pants.

"Shit! Tony, come on! Don't do this to me!" Steve hauled him up to his feet and hooked an arm around his lover's torso. The other went to Tony's chest, just below the empty casing where the reactor normally sat.

"Steve!" Tony sounded choked and afraid himself. No surprise there. Without the reactor he had to be in a lot of pain. His eyes were wide and dark, as they met Steve's.

Something hit his left shoulder, and for a moment Steve thought he'd been shot.

"Steve! Wake up!"

Somehow, that call made his eyes snap open.

For several long seconds, what he saw made no sense. Slowly, he became more aware of where he was. And whom he was with. That was Tony's skin under his own. They were lying tangled together in the bed they now shared more often than not. Steve swallowed and dared to look up, distantly noticing that he'd wrapped his arms tightly around Tony. He wasn't inclined to let go anytime soon.

Tony was staring down at him, worriedly. "Steve?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm alright," Steve rasped.

He tried to convince himself to let go. To stand up and get himself a glass of water. It failed miserably. 

His train of thought crashed and derailed when Tony reached down to pull at his shoulders, forcing him to let go for a moment to shift upward until his head was resting on Tony's shoulder. "No you don't," Tony said firmly. "Come here."

Giving in to the need for touch, Steve wrapped his arms back around his lover the moment he was settled again. 

And then, with the light of the reactor shining in his face, memory came rushing back in earnest. Tony almost dying. Extremis.

Eventually it registered that there were fingers combing through his hair. Tony was asking for his attention, when he was ready to give it. Steve let himself luxuriate in the feeling for a while, trying to relax and let the touch calm him.

"Don't do that to me again," Steve told Tony, hearing the hoarseness in his own voice and hopeful his lover would understand what he meant. "I don't think I could take it."

"Uh, excuse me?" Tony snorted, picking up on exactly the wrong thing as usual. Steve wanted to groan in frustration. "None of that was my fault."

"Shut up, Tony," Steve sighed. "That's not the point."

"Then what is?"

Tony sounded genuinely puzzled. It defused a lot of Steve's irritation. "I had a few hours to think while you were in that... cocoon-thing."

"Yeah?" Tony was still confused, but visibly calmer now.

Steve turned his head until his ear was pressed against Tony's shoulder, letting the steady beat of Tony's heart lull him for a moment. "I don't really know how to say this. I don't want you dying on me. Rather the opposite. And this whole..." Steve swallowed hard against the emotion rising to catch in his throat. "This whole mess and Extremis..."

Steve felt Tony startle just a little when he put it together. "Sorry. But I really didn't know any of that would happen."

"Just don't do it again."

"I can't promise that," Tony replied, tone surprisingly gentle, "and you know it. But you've got me as long as you want me."

"And if that's forever?"

Tony snorted, amused. "We'll see about that. Forever is a pretty tall order. But it sounds pretty good to me."

"We'll make it work."


End file.
